Islamic State affiliate claims execution of Croatian hostage

An Egyptian affiliate of Islamic State claims to have beheaded a Croatian hostage who was captured last month outside Cairo.

Tomislav Salopek, 31, was abducted on July 22 while driving to work for the French oil and gas company CGG.

A photo of Salopek’s decapitated head, which has not been verified, was circulated on jihadist Twitter accounts Wednesday by the ISIL affiliate known as Sinai Province. The caption read: “Killing of the Croatian hostage, due to his country’s participation in the war against Islamic State, after the deadline expired.”

Salopek appeared in a video last week kneeling before a man holding a knife, and read from a sheet of paper that he would be executed within 48 hours if the Egyptian government did not free “Muslim women” from prison.
Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanović said the government could not confirm the death and urged people not to share the image online. According to the Associated Press, Milanović said “we can not 100 percent confirm it is true but what we see looks horrific. A confirmation may not come for several days.”

Salopek’s father Zlatko made a plea last week for his son’s life, telling Agence France-Press: “I am asking the people who hold my son to let him return to his family, because his motive to go to your homeland was exclusively to earn bread for his children. Nothing else.”